Government Policy and Treasury

The Australian Financial Review recently featured Swanson Reed and the proposed Patent Grant Program in Tuesday’s release. The article Innovation crisis a matter of urgency, tax advisers say addresses the innovation crisis looming if the Australian Government does not act soon on policy to encourage investment in innovation. Swanson Reed collaborated with Wrays, intellectual property and patent advisers, to propose a patent grant system as an interim measure until the deadlock on introducing the UK-style-patent-box incentives breaks. Treasurer Joe Hockey echoed concerns by […]

Recent research has indicated that 1000 extra patents per year (that otherwise would not have been filed) could add up to $7 Billion extra GDP per year in the Australian economy. It has been proposed that a new type of government endorsed grant program aimed to offset the cost of patent filing, could be Australia’s answer to the recent U.K. Patent Box controversy. Why would a Patent Grant Program be more appropriate than a Patent Box tax incentive? It has been argued that Australia should […]

After a tough trot, Australian manufacturers can breathe a sigh of relief after the Australian Government revealed applications are now open for the Manufacturing Transition Program. The program will provide manufacturers with a $50 million boost to become more competitive and sustainable. Available to any manufacturer spending over $4 million on capital expenditure / expansion activities, the program focuses on businesses looking to transition or expand their operations to higher value-added or more knowledge intensive manufacturing. A great help to […]

With troubled commodity prices, higher employment costs and a diminishing manufacturing sector, Australia’s immediate future doesn’t look bright. Unlike the United Kingdom, the United States and most of the developed world, Australia has no current innovation strategy or policy. If we don’t act quickly to develop a plan to support innovation, particularly SME’s in the manufacturing sector, business confidence will fall, and investment in long term projects will disappear. It is the responsibility of Government to plan and incentivize our future. […]

News & Research

With a federal election due over the coming months, the opposition labor party have made some announcements with respect to their policy on the R&D Tax incentive. The original R&D tax incentive legislation was enacted whilst the labor was in […]

Conducting R&D activities generates new knowledge that can benefit the nation’s economy. In a recent AusIndustry information bulletin, it was mentioned that one of the main aims of the R&D Tax Incentive is to encourage Australian businesses to undertake research […]

With a federal election due over the coming months, the opposition labor party have made some announcements with respect to their policy on the R&D Tax incentive. The original R&D tax incentive legislation was enacted whilst the labor was in […]

Conducting R&D activities generates new knowledge that can benefit the nation’s economy. In a recent AusIndustry information bulletin, it was mentioned that one of the main aims of the R&D Tax Incentive is to encourage Australian businesses to undertake research […]